Introducing Maven
Apache Maven is a tool that is used for building and managing Java-based projects. It is an open source project hosted at http://maven.apache.org and comes bundled with the NetBeans IDE. Maven simplifies many steps common to all Java development projects and provides numerous features, including the following:
- The provision of convention over configuration. Maven comes with a series of predefined targets for performing certain well-defined tasks including compilation, testing, and packaging of projects. All tasks are managed through a single configuration file:
pom.xml. - A consistent coding structure and project framework. Each Maven project has the same directory structure and location for source files, test files, build files, and project resources. This common structure brings us easily up to speed with projects.
- A consistent build system with numerous plugins to make common tasks easy.
- The ability to execute tests as part of the build process.
- A highly flexible and powerful dependency management system. This allows software developers to publish information and share Java libraries through (external or remote) Maven repositories hosted on the Internet. Libraries are then downloaded and cached locally by Maven for use in the project.
We encourage you to visit the Maven website to explore the many features available. NetBeans will use Maven to create and manage the web application project.
